2006 - Children of Men

Movie of the Year: 2006 Children of Men The Children of Men Podcast from Movie of the Year The Children of Men podcast episode of Movie of the Year takes the Taste Buds to the end of the world. Ryan, Mike, and Greg dive into Alfonso Cuarón's 2006 dystopian thriller. The film imagines a Britain where no child has been born in eighteen years. Furthermore, it turns that bleak premise into one of the most gripping chase movies of the decade. This week, the panel breaks down Cuarón's camerawork and the uneasy bond between Theo and Nigel. Meanwhile, they ask how close the film's future really feels. Additionally, the episode brings two games to the table. Notably, this entry in the 2006 bracket packs plenty of argument into one grim, gorgeous movie. What's in This Episode About Children of Men (2006) Cuarón and Camerawork Theo and Nigel The Future Is Now I Never Metacritic I Didn't Like Dream Blunt Rotation Why Children of Men Still Matters Related Episodes FAQ About Children of Men (2006) Children of Men is a 2006 dystopian thriller co-written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón. The screenplay adapts P. D. James's 1992 novel The Children of Men. The story unfolds in 2027, after nearly two decades of global infertility. Clive Owen stars as Theo Faron, a burned-out former activist who now works a government desk job. His ex-wife Julian, played by Julianne Moore, pulls him into a dangerous mission. Specifically, she needs transit papers for Kee, a young refugee with a secret. Kee is pregnant, and nobody has seen a pregnancy in years. Theo must escort her across a collapsing Britain to a mysterious group called the Human Project. The supporting cast includes Michael Caine, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Pam Ferris, Charlie Hunnam, Danny Huston, and Peter Mullan. Universal released the film in the UK in September 2006 and in the US on Christmas Day. However, it failed to earn back its reported $76 million budget at the box office. Critics responded far more warmly. Roger Ebert gave it a four-star review and praised its convincing performances. Moreover, the film earned three Academy Award nominations, for Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, and Film Editing. You can explore the full cast and crew on IMDb. Cuarón and Camerawork: The Children of Men Podcast Goes Long Few films of 2006 look anything like Children of Men. Cuarón and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki built the movie around long, unbroken takes. As a result, the camera rarely lets the audience look away. The Taste Buds start with the famous car ambush. That sequence plays out almost entirely inside a moving vehicle as attackers swarm the road. Notably, the crew used a custom Doggicam rig built into a modified Fiat Multipla. The camera could glide between passengers while a stunt driver steered from a hidden position. In practice, visual effects artists stitched several takes into what looks like one seamless shot. Then comes the battle in the Bexhill refugee camp. Theo runs through gunfire, rubble, and tanks while the camera stays glued to him. At one point, fake blood splatters across the lens. Cuarón reportedly called cut, but the chaos drowned him out. Consequently, the take continued, and the accidental blood stayed in the film. In this Children of Men podcast conversation, the panel asks a key question. Do these long takes deepen the story, or do they show off? Furthermore, we discuss how this style carried into Lubezki's later work on Gravity and The Revenant. Ultimately, the camerawork makes 2027 feel like live news footage. Theo and Nigel: Two Cousins at the End of the World Theo and Nigel share one short scene, yet it lingers long after the credits. Desperate for transit papers, Theo visits his powerful cousin. Danny Huston plays Nigel, a government official who runs the Ark of the Arts. The program collects the world's masterpieces while the rest of civilization burns. For instance, Michelangelo's David stands inside, and Picasso's Guernica hangs beside the dining table. Meanwhile, an inflatable pig floats above Battersea Power Station outside, a nod to Pink Floyd's Animals. The Taste Buds dig into what separates these two men. Everyone in this world has reasons to give up. Theo lost his young son Dylan to a flu pandemic, and grief hollowed him out. By contrast, Nigel copes by hoarding beauty behind locked doors. His teenage son sits at the table, absorbed in a handheld device and barely present. Theo asks his cousin how he keeps going when no one will be left to see the art. Nigel's answer amounts to a shrug. Therefore, the scene frames a central debate. Is Nigel's shelter for culture an act of hope or pure denial? Additionally, we ask whether Theo's real journey starts at that table. Above all, this pairing shows two ways to face the end: comfort or courage. The Future Is Now: A Children of Men 2006 Podcast Look at 2027 Here is a sobering detail. Children of Men takes place in November 2027, which now sits barely a year away. When the film premiered in 2006, that date felt comfortably distant. However, the film turned twenty this month, and its future has nearly arrived. The Taste Buds take stock of what Cuarón imagined and what the real world delivered. The film's Britain is a police state built on fear. Soldiers round up refugees and hold them in cages. Public screens urge citizens to report illegal immigrants. Additionally, a bomb tears through a London coffee shop in the opening scene. News reports claim that every other nation has collapsed. Cuarón deliberately avoided sleek, futuristic design. Instead, he filled 2027 with worn-out cars, aging billboards, and familiar technology. As a result, the world feels less like science fiction and more like next week. Critics have tied the film to real events for two decades. Specifically, writers have linked it to refugee crises, border debates, and falling birth rates. Meanwhile, the panel weighs which predictions landed and which missed the mark. We also compare it to earlier screen dystopias, including the one in our A Clockwork Orange episode from the 1971 season. Ultimately, this segment asks why a twenty-year-old movie still feels like a warning. I Never Metacritic I Didn't Like Our recurring game returns for another round of arguing with the critics. In I Never Metacritic I Didn't Like, the Taste Buds pull up a film's critical profile on Metacritic. Then we put that consensus on trial against our own reactions. Children of Men arrived with strong reviews and plenty of year-end praise. Notably, a few critics still found its politics underdeveloped. So the panel tests whether those high marks hold up twenty years later. Listen to the episode to hear how the critical record fares under Taste Buds cross-examination. Dream Blunt Rotation: Who Would You Party With from Children of Men? Dream Blunt Rotation asks a simple question. Which characters from the film would you most want to kick back with? Children of Men might seem like a tough fit for this game. However, the movie hands us an obvious frontrunner. Michael Caine's Jasper is a retired political cartoonist who grows his own weed in the woods. Caine reportedly drew on his friendship with John Lennon for the role. Meanwhile, Miriam brings a former midwife's calm and a spiritual streak to a grim road trip. Luke and the Fishes, by contrast, might make for a much tenser evening. Each Taste Bud makes a pick and defends it. Naturally, the debate drifts into strange territory fast. Why Children of Men Still Matters Children of Men still matters because its craft and its message remain inseparable. Cuarón uses every long take to trap viewers inside a crisis. Consequently, the audience feels the stakes instead of simply watching them. Notably, its single-take action sequences remain a reference point for filmmakers and film students. Moreover, Cuarón went on to win Best Director Oscars for Gravity and Roma. In 2016, a BBC poll of international critics ranked the film 13th among the best of the 21st century. Above all, hope sits at the center of this Children of Men podcast discussion. A newborn's cry briefly silences a war zone. That single moment explains why audiences keep returning to this bleak masterpiece. For more debates like this, browse the full Movie of the Year archive. Related Episodes from Movie of the Year: 2006 If you enjoyed this Children of Men podcast, catch up on the rest of the 2006 season. These episodes set up the bracket and the year's biggest debates. Movie of the Year 2006: Season Intro Part 1 The Movies of 2006 Bracket Reveal The 2006 Mixtape: Part I From the 1971 Season: A Clockwork Orange Browse Every Movie of the Year Episode FAQ: Children of Men Podcast and Film What is this Children of Men podcast episode about? In this episode, Ryan, Mike, and Greg break down Alfonso Cuarón's 2006 dystopian thriller. Topics include Cuarón's camerawork, the relationship between Theo and Nigel, and how close the film's 2027 now feels. The episode also features two games: I Never Metacritic I Didn't Like and Dream Blunt Rotation. What is Children of Men about? Children of Men follows Theo Faron, a disillusioned former activist in 2027 Britain. Humanity has faced nearly two decades of infertility. Theo agrees to escort Kee, a pregnant refugee, to safety. Along the way, he must survive a violent police state and warring rebel factions. Who directed Children of Men? Alfonso Cuarón directed Children of Men and co-wrote the screenplay. Emmanuel Lubezki served as cinematographer. Cuarón later won Best Director Oscars for Gravity and Roma. Is Children of Men based on a book? Yes. The film adapts P. D. James's 1992 novel The Children of Men. However, the filmmakers changed the story significantly. In the novel, men lose the ability to father children, and Julian becomes pregnant. By contrast, the film makes Kee, a refugee, the expectant mother. Was the car ambush in Children of Men one continuous shot? It looks like one shot, but it isn't quite. The crew filmed with a special camera rig inside a modified car. Visual effects artists then blended several takes into one seamless sequence. Was the blood on the camera lens in Children of Men an accident? Yes. During the Bexhill battle sequence, fake blood splattered onto the lens. Cuarón reportedly called cut, but the noise of the scene drowned him out. The crew kept rolling, and the moment stayed in the final film. What year does Children of Men take place? The film takes place in November 2027. Its story begins when the world's youngest person, an 18-year-old known as Baby Diego, dies. Who plays Nigel in Children of Men? Danny Huston plays Nigel, Theo's cousin and a high-ranking government official. Nigel runs the Ark of the Arts, a program that stores the world's great artworks. Why does Children of Men still matter? Children of Men still matters for its groundbreaking long takes and its vision of a fearful, divided society. Its 2027 setting now feels uncomfortably close. Furthermore, critics continue to rank it among the best films of the 21st century.